Rehoboth Pronounciation

Growing up in Pennsylvania, I was familiar with Rehoboth Beach as a desirable
family
destination for a hot summer day (note: this was in the days when the phrase "gay outing"
simply meant "a fun day at the beach"). We never stumbled over the pronounciation of this word;
everyone I knew said ruh-HOE-buth without blinking an eye. It was not at all like the controversy over
roof vs. roof
or water vs. water. Oh... I forgot. You can't really tell the difference when these words are just written!
Let me clarify: ruf (rhymes with woof) vs. rewf (rhymes with goof) and wooder vs. wahter.
It wasn't until membership in Rehoboth Academy
began to increase that I became aware of the fact that not everyone agreed on
how to pronounce the name of our school. After creating the mini-FAQ on pronounciation,
I did a little more research. Since the origin of our school name comes
from the Torah, it makes some sense to investigate how a Hebrew speaking individual would
pronounce this word. Wow... did that open up a can of worms. Here is what I learned.

Ancient Hebrew is a "dead" language. That is, it ceased being spoken at some point in history
(scholars disagree on the date).
As a result, no one really knows how Rehoboth would have been pronounced by Isaac when
he was digging the wells.
Modern Hebrew began to be spoken in the late 19-th century, but there are many dialects so there
is still no agreement on pronounciation.

There are some general rules that are followed for Biblical Hebrew. The one I remember
from conversations with my brother, is that the accent usually goes on the last syllable. Of course, if
we follow this rule, then all of my Pennsylvania friends would have spent a lifetime pronouncing
Rehoboth incorrectly.

To fine tune the vowel and consonant sounds, I consulted a friend of mine who
has studied Biblical Hebrew. He offered the following comments.

re should sound like re in red.

ho is just like it looks, or like the garden tool: hoe.

both is probably pronounced more like vote

the accent should go on the last syllable

Taking these into account, re-hoe-VOTE would perhaps be a more accurate rendering of Rehoboth.
My Hebrew scholar however left me with this comment. "whatever you do,
pick a pronounciation and say it consistently." Since I cannot consistently say re-hoe-VOTE when I
look at Rehoboth, I will probably continue to say it in accord with my Pennsylvania roots
(does that rhyme with boots or puts?)